Went from a 235lb guy to an Ironman, keeping the journey going to stay fit.
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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Training on the Road: Montreal

We took a short 3-day family vacation to Montreal - a lovely city if you ever get a chance to visit, very tourist-friendly, lots to see and do and the street life is second to none in North America.

Not being able to afford 3 days off, I decided to get in some workouts.

Running

Montreal is a great town for running, if you like hills. Our hotel was in the shadow of Mont Royal, so naturally I ran it!

Gear required: shorts, shirt, socks, shoes

Being from Alberta originally, I can't call this a mountain with a straight face... it's a really big hill, though, with some seriously long slopes. My run was about 12k, in the light rain, and it was just an awesome way to see and experience Montreal. (Except for the stray dogs hanging out with the half dozen sleeping homeless guys... fortunately the one that gave a short chase didn't catch me, and the others looked too lazy to join in!)

Swimming

Our hotel had a very decent pool, long enough to do laps in. It was probably around 20 yards, which normally I'd consider short but by hotel standards is extraordinary.

Gear required: swim suit, goggles

I tried to get in an evening swim, but there were too many kids... they don't really respect the concept of swimming back and forth. Scheduled a wake-up call for 6:30am the next morning and went back - only 3 people there, all adults, all doing laps, so it was fantastic.

Cycling

I didn't bother - short vacation, and too much equipment to lug around. But seeing all the cyclists going up Mont Royal made me very jealous - what awesome training that would have been!

Other Places to Work Out in Montreal...

The Ile Notre-Dame is an island in the middle of the Saint Lawrence that used to host the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One race. The race is gone, but the track remains and is still used for a NASCAR race (blech!). When that's not happening, you can bike on it. Someday I'd like to do this! It's flat and curvy, and the park is beautiful.

And to recover...After my morning run, we went to a great breakfast place, Eggspectations. It sounds cheesy, but they have some interesting twists on breakfast that hit the spot. And we found a great Italian place on Crecent street called Enzo's, it was very authentic, nice wine... mmm... seafood linguine!